TULSA - AMIENS SISTER CITY PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES

amiens is on the olympic route

Tulsa-Amiens Student Exchange March 28 to April 11, 2023

A group of about 30 students, teachers and their principal from Luzarches High School in Amiens came to Tulsa on a school exchange program with Edison High School and stayed with host families in Tulsa. During their stay, the group visited all the Tulsa landmarks, and were totally immersed in the Tulsa way of life!

The second student exchange in November 2023

Edison Preparatory School, with support from the Tulsa-Amiens Partnership and Alliance Francaise de Tulsa, welcomed 30 high school students and 4 adult chaperons. The group came from the Luzarches High School in Amiens, France.

BASTILLE DAY CELEBRATIONS IN TULSA

Partnering with our friends at the Alliance Française de Tulsa, Tulsa-Amiens Sister City Partnership celebrated France's independence day - Le 14 Juillet at Hop the Griffin pub in Tulsa.  A lively crowd of 40 francophones/francophiles enjoyed delicious charcuterie boards, drinks, conversation and lots of laughter.  There was even group singing of the French National Anthem, La Marseillaise, written in 1792 during the French Revolution.  A fun night that definitely lived up to France's motto:   Liberté, L'Égalité, Fraternité.  Vive la France! 

Tulsa Deputy Mayor VISITS AMIENS

Tulsa Deputy Mayor Cassia Carr was lucky to visit Tulsa’s Sister City of Amiens, France recently. She said it was absolutely stunning and Stéphanie Dapsance - Head of the European and international Office for Amiens Métropole - showed her and her husband the beauty and history of the city. Deputy Mayor Carr said that the City of Tulsa is committed to being a world-class city and having trusted connections with cities around the world is essential to achieving that goal. She is grateful to Amiens Métropole for their hospitality!

AMBASSADOR OF FRANCE VISITS OKLAHOMA HISTORY MUSEUM

Philippe Étienne, Ambassador of France to the USA, is welcomed by the Tulsa Global Alliance-Amiens Sister City Partnership during a recent visit to the Oklahoma History Museum in Oklahoma City.

Pictured (l-r) are: Bob Lieser, TGA Vice President of Programs; Wendy Sheets, Amiens Partnership Co-Chair; Ambassador Étienne; Dr. Jami Fullerton, School of Global Studies at Oklahoma State University; Carine Larkin, Amiens Partnership Co-Chair; and, Gitzel Puente, TGA Past Board and Mayor's Liaison to Tulsa Global Alliance.

a few examples of past tulsa - amiens sister city partnership activities

• Strong student exchanges continued:  Eisenhower International School (EIS) hosted 5th grade students from St. Quentin, near Amiens in Spring 2019, and EIS students previously traveled to St. Quentin in December 2018.  Edison High School welcomed students from Robert de Luzarches School in Amiens in Fall 2018, and Edison students visited Amiens in March 2019.

• Philbrook Museum promoted its 2018 “Summer in France” with an Impressionist arts exhibition, and highlighted Amiens, by offering Philbrook members a chance to win a week-long trip to Amiens.

• Commemoration of the Centenary of the Battle of Amiens was held on August 8, 2018, to an overflow crowd at the Tulsa Historical Society.  Special guests included Grant Moak, Honorary Consul of France in Oklahoma, Bob Blackburn, from the Oklahoma Historical Society, and Beth Lawless, descendant of one of the original Choctaw code talkers in World War I.

• Tulsa Deputy Mayor Amy Brown visited Amiens in June 2019, accompanied by Alisa Dougless and Wendy Sheets, to represent Tulsa at the Amiens Spring Festival, La Rue est à Amiens. 

MORE ABOUT AMIENS

THE “HORTILLONNAGES” of amiens - a maze of floating gardens

With its 300 hectares of water gardens, 65 KM of water channels and seven market gardens “les hortillons”, Amiens is known as the "Venice of the North". In the old days they were just market gardens, growing leeks, cabbages and carrots for the townspeople. Today only a handful of hortillons remain to earn a living cultivating the dark and fertile soil of the Hortillonnages. Every Saturday they sell their produce at a water market in the Saint-Leu district. The place to go and buy good fresh vegetables for making the famous Hortillonnages soup. On the 3rd Sunday in the month the market gardeners dress in traditional costume and go down the Somme, as in former times, in their 'barques à cornet' (boats with one raised pointed end). When they reach the Quai Bélu, they sell their vegetables on the Place Parmentier, across the river. Many of the plots have become pleasure gardens for townspeople seeking outdoor space in which to relax. Families and friends come here on Sundays for a picnic, barbecue or to go fishing.

GREETINGS FROM MAYOR OF AMIENS

Notre Dame d’Amiens 800 YEAR ANNIVERSARY IN 2020

The year 2020 marked the 800-years anniversary of the Amiens Notre Dame Cathedral. For more than eight hundred years Amiens Cathedral has stood as a masterpiece of the French gothic style. An anonymous masterpiece built by a thousand hands yet bearing no signature. People hurrying across the vast square almost invariably have to slow down as the cathedral locks their gaze.  Notre Dame d’Amiens is the largest gothic cathedral in the world (200,000 m3 which is twice the volume of Notre-Dame de Paris) and one of the most beautiful, being listed by UNESCO as a World Humanity Heritage site. 

VISIT AMIENS!